A portable electronic card, chip card, or integrated circuit(s) card (ICC), usually refers to various pocket-sized electronic cards with embedded integrated circuit(s), which can receive, process and output data. A pocket-sized electronic card typically has a molded body that usually is made of plastic. Such cards include connectors, such as a Universal Serial Bus (USB) connector, by which they interact with external devices or hosts. The use of electronic cards with USB connector continues to become more prevalent.
One type of USB connectors includes a metal shell to protect the connector's electrical contacts and to facilitate a better mechanical grip by USB ports. In some cases, though, a USB connector without a metal shell is preferred, for example because USB connectors without a metal shell are usually smaller and less expensive to manufacture relative to shelled connectors. A type of USB connector which is gaining popularity is the double-sided USB connector.
A double-sided USB connector consists of two, substantially opposing, contact areas, one of which provides a USB interface for data communications, and the other provides, or is used as, an electrical power contact through which a USB host can power the embedded electronic components of the USB card. In another type of electronic cards the “other” contact area is used to communicate another type of signal, for example audio signal. The two substantially opposing contact areas of the double-sided connector typically are provided on the external surface of the USB card. Pocket-sided cards typically include double-sided USB connectors with exposed contact areas (i.e., no protective shell is used to protect the electrical contacts) because such cards, which typically have a thickness less than 2 millimeters (mm), cannot accommodate a shelled USB connector. “Wallet Flash”, a pocket-sized card from Walletex Microelectronics Ltd, includes such a connector.
Traditionally, pocket-sized cards include, as FIG. 1 illustrates, a double-sided USB connector interfaced with a Printed Circuit Board (PCB) assembly that includes the card's embedded electronic components, which are usually mounted on the PCB by using surface-mount technology (SMT). “SMT” references a method for constructing electronic circuits in which the components are mounted on the surface of a PCB by soldering the components' terminals to corresponding solder pads on the PCB. “Solder pad” references flat, usually tin-lead, silver or gold plated copper pad without a hole. SMT technology has largely superseded the through-hole technology, a technology that involves fitting components with electric wire leads into holes in the circuit board. In surface-mount construction, the components are soldered to pads or lands on the outer surfaces of the PCB, for which reason surface mounting lends itself well to a high degree of automation, reducing labor cost and greatly increasing production rates.
FIG. 1 schematically illustrates a pocket-sized card 100 in accordance with the prior art. Pocket-sized card 100 includes two, traditionally separated, parts. The first part, generally designated as 101, includes a double-sided USB connector, the double-sided USB connector including a first contact area 28 of the USB connector and a second contact area 30. Contact area 30 is consisted of a first set of electrical contacts and contact area 28 is consisted of a second set of electrical contacts. The electrical contacts may be made from, or include, a flat, usually tin-lead, silver or gold plated copper.
The second part of the pocket-sized card 100, generally designated as 102, includes the PCB 24 section with electronic components 22 mounted thereon. Interconnecting (or interfacing) the double-sided USB connector and (with) PCB 24 traditionally involves soldering electric wires 32 both to the USB's contact areas 28 and 30 and to corresponding solder pads on PCB 24. As part of the assembly of PCB 24, terminals of electronic components 22 (the terminals generally designated as 26), are soldered to corresponding solder pads on PCB 24. For the sake of simplicity, only three electrical components are shown mounted on PCB 24. However, a typical card may have a different number of electronic components, and usually more than three.
Traditionally, PCB 24 is first assembled and then connected to the USB's contact areas 28 and 30 using electric wires 32. However, using wires such as wires 32 requires that a wire inventory be managed, and manual soldering of wires is costly and time-consuming. In addition, manual wiring is prone to errors, for which reason a wiring inspection phase has to be performed prior to the packaging of the card's components in a molded body, such as molded body 20 of card 100.
It would be beneficial to have a pocket-sized card which does not require hard-wiring the PCB to the USB connector and which would facilitate the automation of its assembling process that may include, for example, a wave soldering technique. “Wave soldering” references a soldering process by which electronic components are soldered to a PCB to form an electronic assembly. As part of that process, electrical components are placed on the PCB and the PCB is passed across a wave of solder such that the solder wets to the exposed solder pads of the PCB. U.S. Patent application 2007/0243769 ('769, for short), to Atsmon et al., discloses a double-sided USB connector with a main PCB, which carries the electrical components, and a connector PCB. However, according to '769 the connector PCB carries the two contact strips of the connector and whether the connector PCB can be soldered on top of the main PCB like the rest of its electrical components (i.e., in an automated soldering process) is questionable. Therefore, it would also be desirable to have a method that would enable assembling portable and pocket-sized electronic cards with a better degree of automation. It would also be desirable to provide a USB card whose design reduces the number of costly assembly operations.